I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or anything associated with it. It belongs to its creator Joss Whedon and whoever else owns it. This piece of literature is simply the work of a humble fan. I don't own Harry Potter neither. It belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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:::Author Notes:::

This takes place during Season Four of Buffy. It's after the episode Restless (Where the First Slayer killed all of them in their dreams). For Harry Potter it takes place after the events of book five: Order of the Phoenix.

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Some of you had questions in your reviews. I don't like people being confused so here our your answers.

Q&A

You said Buffy got a 1530 on her SATs, but earlier you said she got a 1430 and that's what they said on the show? –- I know. My bad. I knew consciously that I was typing the wrong number, but for some reason I didn't go back and change it.

Can I use the title of your last chapter for my own story? –- Sure go ahead. The titles are always spur of the moment things for me. I don't ever get attached to them.

Are you still going to do Guiding Light and S.M. Eternity? –- I'm planning on submitting Guiding Light during Christmas vacation, so look forward to it. S.M. Eternity is on hold for a while. I'm trying to fix up the story line, but its getting to be too much. I have so many different directions that I want to take it that I can't keep up with myself.

What about Dawn? –- She'll show up in one form or another. Here's a hint: she won't show up till the last chapter. (That's me trying to be vague. ^.^)

Any lasting effects on Ron from that brain latching onto his arm at the Ministry of Magic? – I actually forgot about that part. The whole ending of the book was rushed too me so I really can't remember how the battle in the Ministry took place. I guess I'll have to go back and read it.

Once again, sorry about the wait. Circumstances that went beyond my control happened. I feel bad leaving you guys hanging for so long. I love this story as much you guys. Thanks for all the kind words and thoughts you put into your reviews. They inspired me to get this out as quickly as I could.

Stars Not in Heaven

Chapter Ten: Unforeseen Tidings

By: Water Mage

Buffy walked into her room with sluggish steps. She had just returned from an all day magic session with Professor Dumbledore. For an old man he was not one to trifle with magic wise. The week after Harry's birthday party, Dumbledore had decided to step up Buffy's magical lessons. Today had been her first official new magic lesson. It started out normal at first then she had to take notes on different formulas and methods at a pace that made her hand cramp from all the writing she had to do. As usual, she was horrible at charms, but when it came time to transfigure a quill into a pen she performed it perfectly.

With a soft groan of satisfaction, Buffy fell onto her bed. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for a long nap. Her ears involuntarily twitched at the sound of fluttering feathers entering her bedroom. Years of training made Buffy snap her eyes open and quickly sit up in bed looking for the source of the noise. Her muscles relaxed as she spotted Einstein, her hawk, sitting on the dresser that sat next to the window. In his beak was a plain white envelope with her name written in fancy lettering by that of a calligraphy pen. A smile made its way onto Buffy's face as she recognized the handwriting. Only Giles wrote letters as if he was going to be graded on penmanship. Jumping up from her bed, Buffy went to Einstein and took the letter from his beak.

"Thanks, Einstein," she said, rubbing the top of his brown feathered head.

Einstein closed his eyes and made a noise of contentment, making Buffy smile. She ripped open the envelope and took out the folded letter. Her smile rapidly faded as her eyes read the words on the page.

Dear Buffy,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. We are all well as one can expect in Sunnydale. Xander and Anya are getting closer and their relationship is blossoming quite maturely. The same could be said about Willow and Tara. I have only seen few people so devoted to each other as those two young women. While this is the good news, I regret to say that I also have bear with this letter bad tidings. As you know we have been encountering very few vampires and other demons while on patrol. First we thought that maybe they were still reeling from Adam's death, but we have found that is not the case. Anya has been informed by old demon comrades that Voldemort has put out a call to arms to all demons. He is rallying all the willing demon population to his side. And I must say from what Anya has said, many have taken his offer of power and joined his ranks. Buffy, this is a time of great peril for both the supernatural realm and the normal realm. A joining like this hasn't been seen for almost twenty years. You must be very careful with whom you trust and share your secrets to. Anyone could be an agent of Voldemort. From what you have told me of Hogwarts, I think it would be a good idea if you would start patrolling the forest that surrounds the school. I know that you have told me Hogwarts is the safest place on Earth, but nothing is impenetrable. Even the Watchers Council Headquarters isn't. Council members learned that the hard way during the Council Siege of 1849. Please, Buffy be careful. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you.

Sincerely,

Giles

Buffy cursed loudly. It was just her luck for this to happen. Trouble always seemed to find her. She and her mother moved to Sunnydale to start over, only to find the town was built on a mouth to hell. Then she ran away to Los Angeles, thinking to escape the call of destiny. She wasn't there a full three months before she had to kick some demon ass. Now, right when it seemed like she had taken a break, trouble had found her.

Buffy looked up at the ceiling, holding the envelope tightly in her hand. "Can't a girl ever get a break! Do I have 'Demon play thing' tattooed to my forehead or something, cause this is really not funny anymore."

Of course she didn't get a response back. She glared at ceiling hoping that the Powers felt her stare. Buffy turned around sharply at the sound of her door opening.

"What are you yelling about?" asked Harry, stepping into the room with a curious expression.

Wordlessly, Buffy handed the letter to Harry. He took the offered paper and quickly read it. His mouth dropped in as he scanned the letter. "Is he sure of this?" he asked with a hint of fear and worry laced in his voice.

"Giles, is usually never too far off on these things. If he says it's serious then it is," replied Buffy, gravely.

Harry nodded, his face going serious. "We have to tell Professor Dumbledore."

"Lets go," agreed Buffy, walking briskly out the room followed by Harry. They walked down the hallway with determined strides. Anyone could see by their identical expressions of resolve that they were on an important mission. The very air around them seemed to cackle from the determinedness of their speed walking forms. What normally would have taken an eight-minute trip took only a few minutes for them to get from their rooms to Dumbledore's office. Buffy gave the password to the gargoyle and barely registered it jumping to side as she raced up their stairs with Harry by her side. She knocked once on the door and entered the circular office.

Buffy and Harry stopped in their tracks as both Professor Snape and Dumbledore gave them startled looks at their abrupt entrance. Snape curled his lip up and gave the Potter siblings a look of cool disdain. "We are trying to have a meeting. Common courtesy would have told you to wait for the words enter or come in before just barging into someone's private office."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "So says the pale guy who picks on teenagers."

The air seemed to grow colder that instant. Buffy and Snape's hair started to move by an unfelt wind as the two glared at one another. Dumbledore cleared his throat breaking them from their stare down. Buffy tore her eyes away from Snape, clenching her fist together tightly to prevent her hands from wrapping around his neck. Harry put his hand on his shoulder to calm her down.

Dumbledore smiled calmly at the two of them. "What brings you here?"

Buffy sat the letter down on his desk. He raised an eyebrow questioning, but picked up the letter and read it. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. He looked at Snape, his blue eyes now dulled by the troubled thoughts floating through his head. "Severus, have you heard Voldemort allying himself with demons?"

Snape if possible turned even paler. Dumbledore handed him the letter and he read through it. He answered the question once he finished Giles' letter. "No sir, I haven't. Since, I've rejoined the Deatheaters I haven't been privy to a lot of information, as I once was when I was apart of the inner circle. I don't think You Know Who trust me as much as he once did."

Dumbledore intertwined his fingers together and made a humming sound, clearly thinking over this new bit of information. Finally he looked up at Buffy. "I think Mr. Giles is right. It would be a good idea for you to patrol the forest—"

"WHAT!" shouted Harry, interrupting Dumbledore. "She can't go into the forest. You know what kinds of things live in there! There is no way she's going in there by herself."

A hint of a smile crossed the Headmasters face. At this moment he was glad that he had already informed all the staff staying at Hogwarts that Buffy was the Slayer. "I know. That's why Professor Snape is going to accompany her."

"WHAT!"

Professor Dumbledore didn't let the three different protests phase him. He held up his hand to halt any further protest from them. "Harry is right. The forest is a dangerous place and going with someone who has experience navigating it will help Buffy a great deal."

"Okay, I get it. But him," Buffy said, pointing at Snape as if he were a bug. "Couldn't you just draw me a map?"

Dumbledore shook his head a smile fully blossoming on his face. "No, I couldn't. The Forbidden Forest has only been mapped by only the oldest of centaurs and is closely guarded secret within their clan."

"Great," said Buffy her voice full of false cheer.

Harry titled his chin up defiantly. "If Snape is going with Buffy then I'm going with her too."

"You will not be accompanying your sister this time," said Dumbledore, leveling Harry with a stern look.

He gave her a weak smile. "It was worth a try then." Harry turned from the room and hurriedly walked down the stairs. Buffy watched him go with a worried look. She turned to Snape as she walked to the door. "Be at the entrance doors at nine o'clock. Not 9:01 or 9:03. Nine o'clock. I won't wait for you if you're late."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure I won't be late."

Buffy turned on her heel and went down the stairs closing the door behind her. She met Harry who was standing next to the stone gargoyle with a sullen look on his face. Buffy gave him a long stare trying to figure out why he was looking so discontent.

"What's up with you?" she asked, as they walked back to their rooms.

Harry sighed loudly. "I don't want you going into the forest without me. I don't see why Dumbledore's letting Snape go and not me. I've been into the forest before."

Buffy slung her arm around his shoulder. "Harry, Dumbledore is right. I know that you've been in the forest before, but its no place for someone your age. Hence the name: Forbidden Forest. It's going to be really dangerous—Hellmouth—," she said, stopping her sentence and giving the password to the secret entrance of their rooms. "It would be better if you stayed here. Who knows what's hiding out in that forest."

Harry shook off her arm, stalking into the room and plopping down on the couch. "It's not fair! I'm your brother! Why does that slimy git have to go with you? I should be the one going."

Raiden perked his ears up at Harry's outburst. He slinked from his end of the couch to Harry's end. Without any effort he bounded into Harry's lap and rubbed his head against Harry's stomach in an effort to get attention. Automatically, Harry began scratching Raiden between his ears getting him to purr contentedly. Buffy sat down in the spot next to Harry.

"Harry," she began, slowly. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I was trying to look out for your well being… I just don't won't you to get hurt." She grinned a little. "Now, on the other hand who would mind if Snape got hurt. I rather he be hurt than you any day."

"Forget about me. I want to go so I can see that nothing will happen to you. I know first hand what kinds of creatures live in the forest, " said Harry, looking at Buffy pleadingly. "What if something happens to you?" He looked down at the ground. "… I don't know what I would do if something happened to you."

Buffy wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "You don't worry about me. I'm the Slayer. We Chosen One's are made up of stronger stuff than most people. If I can survive shopping in the malls in L.A. than I'm sure I can survive one night patrolling the Forbidden Forest."

Harry half smiled. "Your right. I forget sometimes that your more than meets the eye."

Buffy raised a thin eyebrow. "That could be taken two ways."

"I meant it like it came out. You're more than meets the eye. Like at first I thought you were a girl. But then you could practically bench press the England Quidditch team and me easily and plus I can see a bit of an Adam's apple at your throat," replied Harry, smiling cheekily.

He was up and out of the room before Buffy's brain could fully process the sentence and determine it as an insult to her femininity. Buffy's mouth dropped once the insult registered in her mind. It wasn't three seconds later before she was out of her seat and chasing after Harry as if he had a million-dollar bill tied around his back.

Nine o'clock that night Buffy stood at the castle entrance doors. She glanced at her watch and smiled as the time changed to 9:01. Buffy snapped her fingers with exaggerated movements. "Oh darn," she said loudly with fake sorry-ness. "Looks like Professor Snape won't be coming with me."

"I beg to differ," replied Professor Snape, appearing from the shadows of a darkened corner.

Buffy gripped the handle of the thin sword she held in her hand. She had almost thought he wasn't going to show. Buffy gave the man a false smile. "I see you made it, Professor. I almost left you."

Snape gave her a sneering smile. "And I suppose that would have been dreadful."

Buffy rolled her eyes and opened the entrance doors. "Whatever. Let's just go, Michael Myers."

Wordlessly the duo trudged down the grounds to the forest that surrounded the school. Snape was going to say something to intimidate her before they entered the forest, but he stopped himself as Buffy shot him a glare of warning. Buffy didn't let the man beside her hinder her in any way. She used the lightweight sword she carried to cut down any brush in their way. Since they weren't saying anything to one another, the two might as well have been on their own for all the communication going on between them. Buffy put a hand up in the air signaling them to halt. Slowly she began to scan the area for the source of the noise she heard.

"What's wrong?" asked Snape, glancing about them much the same way she was.

Buffy continued to strain her sight and her vision into the darkened forest. "I don't know. But I know I heard something near us that wasn't you or me."

"Maybe you're hearing things—"

Buffy clamped her hand to his mouth effectively cutting him off. Without warning she shoved him out of the way. Snape fell to ground narrowly avoiding the sharpened claws of a dangerous looking beast. Buffy jumped back as the beast swiped at her. She felt her heart speed up as she recognized what the creature was. She had babysat one enough times during her senior year in high school. It was a werewolf. The werewolf resembled Oz in wolf form, but this one was bigger much bigger. The werewolf leapt with a powerful thrust of its hind legs jumping straight at Buffy. At the last moment Buffy fell to the ground on her back. Both her legs met the airborne wolf in the stomach. With all her might she push kicked it away. The werewolf sailed through the air landing yards away. The wolf was dazed for a few moments giving time for Snape and Buffy to recover and regroup.

Buffy held herself in a fighting stance with Professor Snape beside her with his wand out and trained on the dangerous beast. "What a girl wouldn't do for a tranquilizer gun right about now," muttered Buffy.

Snape didn't have time to question her because the werewolf had regained its bearing and charged at them again. Professor Snape shot the stupefy spell at the wolf, but the animal had reflexes that would have put a cat to shame. It dodged the curse as if were going in slow motion. Buffy took advantage of the werewolf's split focus to run head on to it and deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to its skull. The beast let out a loud agonized howl as it stopped in its tracks.

"NOW!" Buffy shouted, turning to Snape.

Snape pointed his wand at the werewolf and yelled, "Stupefy! "

There was a flash of light that roared through the air and impacted the wolf. Its eyes rolled back in its head and it fell to the ground unconscious. Snape turned to Buffy breathing hard. "That was certainly interesting."

Buffy rolled her eyes for the second time that night. "Uh huh, better than sex," she said, sarcastically.

"Does everything out of your mouth have to be so vulgar?" questioned Snape.

Buffy shrugged, kneeling at the werewolf's side. "Hey, what can I say. My thoughts are like STDs. I don't mean to get them, they just come to me."

Snape made a disgruntled noise and went to her side by the werewolf. "We should take whoever this is to the school. They'll need treatment from Madam Pomfrey when they awaken."

Buffy nodded and let Snape magically conjure ropes in the air that bounded themselves around the beast and lifted it into the air. Together they walked out of the clearing with the werewolf floating in front of them, and back up to the school feeling that they had made the area a little safer for the night.

Further south from the castle was the quaint little town of Hogsmeade. It was late at night so the town's people had all returned to their homes and closed up their shops. Almost silently a truck appeared out of mid air. It screeched to a halt in front of a well-known town landmark. The Shrieking Shack. Two men exit the trunk and pull off a tarp off something that lay in the back bed of the truck. With great effort and a lot of swearing the two men pull out a large rectangular box.

"Hurry it up, this place is giving me the creeps," said the shorter of the two men.

"Quiet you. I'm trying here," responded the other men.

They give a pull and the box falls to the ground, cracking open slightly, leaning at an angle with one end on the ground and the other leaning on the truck. A little dirt leaked out of the cracked corner. The shorter man leaned down, inspecting the cracked corner of the lid.

"What the hell?" exclaimed the taller man. "The guy is carting dirt around."

The shorter man stood up, his pudgy face annoyed. "I can't believe this," he said, helping his partner to try and right the box. "Rich people think they can just—"

His sentence was cut off suddenly as a hand burst out from the box. He didn't even have time to scream before the hand slashed his throat and he fell to the ground dead. The other guy left standing could only stare in horror at the body that busted out from the box…

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Finally, a new chapter. And we finally get the plot going along. Yay! The next two chapters will be part of a mini arc I like to call, 'Vald, the Dark One'. If you can figure out who Vald is then I'm pretty sure you can guess whom the next two chapters will be about. Let me see, I think I will probably have a new chapter up Sunday. It should be good. ^_^